Doctors working in primary health care teams are subject to the Working Time Directive. They are not to be assimilated as public service workers alongside emergency services. All time on call was working time and overtime if present at a health centre, but if merely contactable then the rules applied to the time actually spent. Merely being on call at night regularly did not make them night workers, but they could be classed as shift workers where appropriate. Consents given collectively by a trade union are not to be equated with consent given by the doctor himself.
ECJ Social policy – Protection of the safety and health of workers – Directives 89/391/EEC and 93/104/EC – Scope – Doctors in primary health care teams – Average period of work – Inclusion of time on call – Night workers and shift workers
Citations:
Times 18-Oct-2000, [2000] ICR 1116, C-303/98, [2000] IRLR 845, [2000] EUECJ C-303/98
Links:
Statutes:
Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work, Council Directive 93/104/EC of 23 November 1993 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time
Jurisdiction:
European
Cited by:
Cited – Landeshauptstadt Kiel v Norbert Jaeger ECJ 9-Sep-2003
Concepts of working time and rest period – On Call
ECJ Reference for a preliminary ruling: Landesarbeitsgericht Schleswig-Holstein – Germany. Social policy – Protection of the safety and health of workers – Directive 93/104/EC – Concepts of working time and rest . .
Cited – MacCartney v Oversley House Management EAT 31-Jan-2006
EAT The Tribunal erred in law in holding that the Appellant had received the rest breaks to which she was entitled under reg 12 of the Working Time Regulations 1998. Gallagher v Alpha Catering Services Ltd [2005] . .
Cited – Hughes v Jones and Another EAT 3-Oct-2008
EAT WORKING TIME REGULATIONS
NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE
A care worker in a residential home who was provided with accommodation so that she could discharge her duty to be on call for the residents 11 hours . .
Cited – Gallagher and others v Alpha Catering Services Ltd CA 8-Nov-2004
The Claimants were employed to deliver food to aircraft at airports, loading and unloading food from the aircraft. Between loadings, they were on down time – not physically working, but required to remain in radio contact with their employers, and . .
Cited – Hughes v The Corps of Commissionaires Management Ltd CA 8-Sep-2011
The employee security guard appealed against a finding that his employer had allowed rest breaks as allowed under the Regulations. He worked a continuous shift during which he was allowed to use a rest area, but he remained on call.
Held: The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment, Health Professions
Updated: 04 May 2022; Ref: scu.162474